


Encino

by suecsit



Category: Cobra Kai
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn, strange plot developments, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 23:57:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14943758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suecsit/pseuds/suecsit
Summary: A dinner party takes a weird turn.





	Encino

**Author's Note:**

> So this entire chapter, well, 4/5 of it, was deleted by accident and then rewritten. I'm sorry for the typos, which I'll be working on editing from today to eternity probably.
> 
> Also, I feel obligated to say that while character is something I feel I can do well, plot is a different story. I struggle with plot. And this one's a mix of both. Thank you in advance for your patience.
> 
> This is a sequel to "All Valley" and is the eighth episode in the "Bert" series. It probably helps to read them in order. Especially right now.

In this story you’ll notice that I moved Mr. Miyagi’s death 4 years earlier. His tombstone reads 2011 in Cobra Kai, and I’m changing that to 2007 for reasons important to character motivation. Mrs. Robinson's name in Cobra Kai is never revealed. I'm calling her Joy.

“Encino”

 

That September evening Johnny reached for a third beer from the man passing silver trays of cocktails around the Robinsons’ living room. His eyes scanned the space for Daniel out of habit. He saw him across the room talking to Bert. The conversation looked intense.

Johnny had agreed to Aisha’s family hosting a dinner for Cobra Kai, something to celebrate the new partnership with Daniel and his students. He was still pissed as hell at Daniel for the way he acted after the committee meeting weeks ago, but the ache inside had faded and become more numb than anything else. He and Daniel circled each other during practice but kept a distance. They also left immediately after practice was over. It wasn’t just because there was bad blood but because Aisha and Bert were watching them closely.

Johnny drank most of his beer and watched Daniel move his hands and animate his face as he talked with Bert. His brown eyes would light up when he was talking to a student, no matter how serious the conversation was. The man literally exuded a warmth and patience with kids that he didn’t always show to Johnny, and Johnny found himself, pathetically enough, envious of a bunch of teenagers.

He excused himself and went to wash his hands before they all sat down to dinner. He used the kitchen sink, not realizing that the guest bathroom would have been the right place to clean up. He mumbled “excuse me” and Joy Robinson stepped aside, smiling and giving him room.

As he struggled to figure out the faucet, he heard Joy and one of her friends talking.

“You still have the black ring? Joy, we haven’t had one of _those_ parties in months!”

“Shhh,” she giggled. “It’s habit. Every time I host I wear it.”

“You notice who doesn’t wear hers anymore…”

“You mean Amanda,” Joy said. “I think they just got busy. I haven’t seen them around.”

Johnny rinsed the soap off and grabbed a nearby paper towel.

 

When he returned to the living room, he found Miguel talking to Aisha, and he interrupted them. “I need Miguel for a minute.”

He pulled Miguel into a side hallway and asked him if he had the mobile computer that would let him look stuff up on the Internet.

 Miguel smiled. He pulled out his black smartphone and opened an app.

 “Search for…” Johnny looked around before finishing the sentence. “Black rings.”

“Sensei, is everything all right?”

“Yeah, it's fine, just do it.”

Miguel looked amused. He typed in the words, his thumbs moving faster than Johnny could track.

“It says people wear black rings when they’re in open relationships.” He showed Johnny the search results, but the font was too tiny for him to read.

“What the hell does that mean?”

 “Um…” Miguel searched some more. “They sleep with other people, I think. They’re married but they swap partners or something.” His brow furrowed. “Let me ask Aisha if she knows—“

“No!” Johnny said. “Don’t say a word, especially to Aisha. Pretend we never talked about this.” He turned away.

 “Can I sit by you at dinner then?”

 Johnny made it to the long dining room table where others were gathering. Miguel followed, looking worried.

 

 

During the meal Johnny’s eyes kept drifting over to where Daniel was sitting. At one point Daniel caught him mid stare, his eyebrows up as if asking what was wrong. Johnny excused himself from the table, dropping his napkin on the floor.

 He made his way toward the guest bathroom but veered right toward the front door at the last minute. He just needed some air. And then he needed to kill someone.

 He sat down on the first step and looked out at the cars in the driveway. Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Mercedes…. Johnny found himself doing inventory.

 The door opened behind him.

 “Don’t come out here if you know what’s good for you,” Johnny said, his voice strained and tight.

 “I’m not scared of you.”

 “You should be.”

 “Tell me what’s wrong. Don’t make me guess.”

 He stood up and turned to face Daniel. His eyes drifted down to the expensive watch and then the hands. A wedding band on the left. Nothing on the right.

“Where’s your ring?” 

“What?”

“Your black ring.”

 Daniel froze.

 “Yeah, that’s right,” he stepped up to meet Daniel on level ground. “Your secret’s out. Tell me again how you don’t want to hurt your family.”

 “Johnny, you don’t—“

 “Be very careful what you say to me right now.”

 “I can’t talk about it here,” Daniel hissed.

 “Then meet me at the dojo when this is over.”

 “What do you want me to tell the Robinsons?”

 “Tell them that I feel sick. It’s the truth anyway.” Johnny went to look for his car. He hoped a Mercedes wasn’t blocking him in.

 

*****

 

After making Johnny’s apology to their hosts, Daniel sat back down at the table, his body moving as if in a dream. The noise around him faded to a buzz, and the fork slipped from his fingers when he tried to hold it.

 Amanda looked at him from the other side of the table, wondering what was happening.

 Bert shot him a death stare. _Remember what I warned you about_ , it said.

That night Bert had told Daniel that he noticed that his sensei looked sad because Daniel wasn’t talking to him or hanging out with him as much. He made it clear that such things were unacceptable and that it was Daniel’s job to make it better. And finally, if Daniel wanted to be with his sensei, he’d better not ever hurt him. Bert promised that if he did there would be consequences.

 That’s actually how he said it: there would be consequences. He had to hand it to that little guy. He was small but scrappier than Daniel had ever been. And he looked so innocent on the outside.

 Of course that was what people used to think about him.

****

 

The first time it happened had been in this very house. Daniel remembered it well. It was 2008, the year of the economic downturn. They had just moved to Encino.

 Isaiah was having a fundraiser to renovate a building and construct an indoor pool at the country club. After a few drinks, most of the guests would pull out their checkbooks and write donations. At that time Daniel didn’t understand why one club needed an outdoor pool and a heated indoor one. Never mind that it was Los Angeles and the weather never dropped below 60. But then he had just moved to Encino, and there was a lot he didn’t understand.

 With only one dealership and some wretched sales numbers, Daniel was willing to do anything to turn things around. He had joined the country club because Amanda suggested it would be good for networking. The cost, along with his new mortgage, was going to sink him if he didn’t move his inventory soon. Of course, no one in Encino was immune to the recession. He knew he wasn’t special, but he was just starting out.

 The Robinsons and other families had plenty in reserve. Their family trees had ensured they were protected in the form of IRAs and trust funds and mysterious offshore accounts and antiques hoarded in large basements and attics across the Valley.

 Daniel, along with his wife, six year old daughter, and infant son, did not have that cushion.

 He pulled out his checkbook resentfully, and his pen hovered over the “pay to the order of.” Daniel barely registered what someone was asking of him when he was told to drop his car keys in a basket being passed around the room.

 When he looked up, something told him to put the check away. Women and men were taking extra long swigs of wine. They were giggling like teenagers.

Most were migrating to the couches in the main living area.

 At that very moment Amanda grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a guest bathroom.

 She shut the door, locked it, and let out a deep breath.

 “What’s wrong?” Had she seen him hesitate over writing a check? Did she know? His wife was aware of the sales report, but she didn’t know just how precarious the situation had become. Daniel was afraid that if he wrote the donation tonight he might not be able to pay the electric bill tomorrow.

 She also didn’t know how much he spent for Mr. Miyagi’s funeral. Never mind that his mentor told him to throw his ashes out on the beach where they trained together the first time. Never mind that Mr. Miyagi’s dying wish was to leave something for Daniel, not the other way around. Daniel was stubborn, and he couldn’t just scatter ashes. He wanted a granite tombstone and a beautiful plot of bonsai trees around it. He needed a shrine so that when he lost his way he could find his way back to that grave. The man had been gone a year and it felt like an eternity.

 He purchased the grave with his last line of good credit.

 “Daniel, I’m going to tell you something, and I want you to stay calm.”

 She _did_ know. “Whatever you saw, there’s a reason—“ he started out.

 “This is a swingers party.”

 “Like a drug?”

 “No.” She washed hands in the sink even though they weren’t dirty. Daniel had never seen her this fidgety.

 “It’s a party for couples who want to fool around with other partners.” She rubbed her hands dry on the towel hanging by the door. Then she turned to face him.

 “You mean those rumors about Encino…” She nodded as he caught on. “Oh, this is bullshit.”

 “I know.”

 “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.” He tried to move past her to retrieve his keys and their coats.

 “Wait,” she said. “If we leave right now, we’ll insult everyone here. It will look like we’re judging.”

 “We ARE judging.”

 “Right, but maybe we shouldn’t.”

 “You can’t be serious.”

 “Listen, you’ve been wanting to find a way out of this dealership mess. You’ve been wanting to establish yourself here. If you storm out, that can’t happen. The Robinsons are well established and respected. Isaiah was a lineman…..”

 “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ve heard it five times this evening.”

 “So, let’s give our new friends a chance. We can establish rules for ourselves before doing anything. It’s probably nothing like what we’re imagining.”

 “I don’t know—“

 “We both have colorful pasts anyway,” Amanda teased.

 “Yours is MUCH more colorful than mine,” Daniel muttered, feeling trapped. Then he wanted to take it back.

 Perhaps out of guilt for that comment, or guilt over spending his kids’ college tuition on a cemetery plot he couldn’t afford, or out of lingering grief for his teacher, he let his wife pull him out of the bathroom and into the group.

 He reached for the vodka before things got started. He hated the taste, but he found that if the martini was extra cold he could endure it.

 

****

 

In a year or two they had become fully acclimated in the lifestyle. The country club set experimented with swinging and same-sex relationships and enjoyed its fair share of left-handed cigarettes and recreational substances.   Daniel found that the longer he just went along with it, the less he agonized over it as a conscious choice. This was the world he always looked in on from the outside, and now he was inside, and the spaghetti was on someone else’s shirt. He was the one dancing with the wife who looked like a model while some skinny nerd peered in from the kitchen window.

 As he became closer to his friends, the sales picked up. Years passed. The recession eased. He opened more dealerships and made more connections. He found an advertising campaign that worked for him and honored Mr. Miyagi’s legacy at the same time. He enjoyed the company of men and women besides his wife, and it was as natural as picking milk up at the grocery store on the way home from work.

 Still, he and Amanda had a veto list. They each got to put names on it of people that they refused to let the other “play” with. Usually they were logical choices they both agreed on. In some ways their relationship was stronger because of all this. Daniel had no idea why.

 But in May 2018 when Amanda found him sitting on the floor of his personal dojo, his head in his hands and his broken trophy on the floor, she begged him to look up and tell her what was wrong. She told him she found Robby standing out on the driveway looking lost and that she had heard yelling. He didn’t respond.

 The next morning, hung over emotionally and physically, he admitted the details. Amanda then asked him to put Johnny on that list.

 And they always honored the list.

 

*****

 

When Daniel finished telling his history to Johnny later that night, they were sitting in Johnny’s office, Johnny on one side of the desk, Daniel on the other, like a truant child being called to the principal’s office. Johnny just stared at him. He didn’t even reach for a beer.

 He just smiled.

 Daniel was reminded of that night that Johnny smirked at him through the blinds of Cobra Kai, that first time he confronted him about the dojo. He didn’t like thinking about that.

 “What?” Daniel finally said. He felt defensive and on edge. Everything was raw after confessing his family garbage.

 “Oh nothing, just figuring something out for the first time.”

 “Care to let me in on it, genius?”

 “You were afraid of what I would think of you.”

 Daniel shook his head. “It’s more complicated than that.”

 “No. It’s really not. You’re a whore.” Daniel stood up.

Johnny was unfazed. “It’s easier when I’m the bad guy and you’re the guy who helps old ladies cross the street, right Larusso?”

 “Watch it—“

 “I mean, wow, when I said get your house in order I had no idea—“

 Daniel’s fist made contact with Johnny’s jaw. He fell against the wall, and stumbled to remain upright. The smile was still there. Daniel wasn’t done. He felt like he had to tear that smile off.

 Johnny’s hand went up to his face, and when he looked at his fingers, there was blood on them. His nose was bleeding, but the adrenaline made it so it barely hurt. “Feel better now, hero?”

 “Don’t call me that.” Daniel was shaking, his hands still balled into fists, the knuckles on his right hand red and smarting.  


“Oh, that’s right. You’re not a hero, just a slut for money.” Johnny stood up to leave the office. The room was entirely too small for both of them now. It was like being trapped in a cage with a wild animal. For once Johnny had no interest in besting Daniel in a fight. It would be like fighting a rabid dog. No mercy was one thing. No sanity was something else entirely.

 Daniel came up behind him and shoved. “Fuck you.”

 Johnny tripped a little on the two mats that were lying on the center floor and turned around. His hands were up in mock surrender, toying with Daniel like he did the night they met. “No no, we’ve never actually done that. Although now I’m kinda happy I didn’t catch anything…”

 Daniel hurled himself at Johnny and slammed him on the floor, his legs straddling and holding the body beneath him. “You don’t know what I’ve been through!” he shouted. His arm went back as if to strike again.

 When the blow came at him, Johnny merely blocked and grabbed Daniel by that same arm, twisting it a little until he yelled out.

 “Daniel, stop.”

 “Let go!”

 “You’re the one attacking me!”

 Daniel ripped his arm loose and moved away suddenly. He turned his back on Johnny, trying to breathe. Everything had spun out of control.

 He couldn’t catch his breath. He concentrated on feeling the flow in and out, and he couldn’t do it. He panicked and leaned forward, trying to find oxygen. A ghost of a memory moving in and out--

  _How feel now?_

_Better._

But he didn’t.

 Johnny was suddenly alarmed, hearing the shallow gasps. He wrapped his arms around Daniel from behind and held him tight. He’d seen his mother do this to his stepfather once. It made people calm down, she said. Johnny was also certain it probably pissed them off.

 Daniel fought it and snarled and growled like he was being held in a strait jacket and Johnny was threatening him with a sedative.

 “Shhh,” Johnny said into his ear, clenching his arms tighter around his partner, “Stop it.”

 After some minutes passed, he felt the body in his arms lose its tension. “I can’t,” Daniel said. He shoved at Johnny’s arms but had no strength left. He felt deflated and empty and lost.

 “Shhh,” Johnny kept saying. Daniel fell back against him, his body now shaking with silent sobs he couldn’t control.

 “Let me go,” he turned his head, still trying to catch his breath.

 “No.”

 The sobs continued as Johnny held him. He held him the way he never held Robby or Shannon or Ali.

 And all through the sobbing and struggling and his own nosebleed, Johnny stayed with him, watching him grow gradually calmer in his arms. His mother had been right.

 “Better?” Johnny whispered. He felt rather than saw Daniel nod slightly. His head fell against Johnny’s shoulder. “Why do you have to be such a dick?”

 Johnny didn’t respond to that. “I saw that poster of you in the lobby during the tournament,” he pressed his lips to Daniel’s ear. “The crane, you know?”

 Daniel was silent.

 “That kid up there….” Johnny tried and failed to get the words out the first time.

 Johnny tried again. He sat up a little straighter, still supporting both of their weight, and turned Daniel’s face toward him so that he could hold eye contact. “That kid….he was my hero.”

 Daniel shuddered and broke his gaze. Johnny pulled him back. “And he still is.”

 The brown eyes lit up for just a moment, just like they had when he talked to Bert earlier. “I don’t deserve…you. I don’t deserve…this.” Daniel’s voice broke, and he kept wanting to look down and away. Johnny wouldn’t let him.

 “You can’t let them win, Daniel,” Johnny said, leaning in to kiss him on the lips. He withdrew for a moment and searched Daniel’s face. The tear stains and ruddy cheeks and the dark circles under the eyes were the only things standing between him and the boy he loved. “Promise me you won’t let them win.” He kissed Daniel on the forehead, holding him close.

 After a moment, Daniel sighed. “I promise.”

 “Tell me again where I am on that list of yours.”

 He felt Daniel laugh. It was quiet and you could barely tell it happened, but he laughed. “You’re at the top.”

 

 

 


End file.
